trophy wife

English

Etymology

Coined 1989 by Julie Connelly in a Fortune magazine cover story, by analogy with a real estate trophy building.

Noun

trophy wife (plural trophy wives)

1. (derogatory) A wife, usually young and attractive, regarded as a status symbol for the husband, usually older and affluent.
   • 2008, Julia Llewellyn, The Model Wife, Penguin UK (→ISBN)

     ‘She's with her nanny.’ ‘Oh yeah, I forgot. You're a proper trophy wife now. Staff and everything. Well…’ She produced a bottle of cava from a plastic bag. ‘With no child to keep up appearances for, let's get ourselves in the mood.’

   • 2013, George G. Nyman, Love Lost in Time Relativity, AuthorHouse (→ISBN), page 12:

     She was David's fourth wife. Twenty-four years his junior, they both knew why they were together. David was filthy rich, and Belinda was a trophy wife. In fact, this was her third time around in this career: Being a trophy wife.

Translations

young attractive wife who's a status symbol for her husband

• Danish: trofækone c
• French: potiche (fr) f
• German: Vorzeigefrau f, Trophäenfrau f (often derogatory)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hebrew: אישה לקישוט, אישה ייצוגית, אישה לראווה

See also

• arm candy

Further reading

• trophy wife on Wikipedia.Wikipedia